Change of Heart
by teacup-mouse540
Summary: New girl comes to Tulsa and meets the gang...sorry..suck at summaries...Chapter 2 is up!
1. Chapter 1

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Title: Change Of Heart

Rating: PG, at some points it may get to be PG-13. For stuff like Mild Language and Sexual Comments, but nothing too extreme. 

Category: Romance/Drama

Summary: After her mothers death, Rachel Pearson moves to Tusla, Oklahoma to live with her Aunt and Uncle and falls in love with a person who nobody expects, but does he love her back? I can NOT write summaries so you're just going to have to read it!! 

Disclaimer: Hey, guess what?? I do NOT own the Outsiders!!! (Surprised?)…Yeah, so anyway I don't own anybody from the Outsiders, I own everyone else besides the Outsiders characters…

Author's Note: This is my very first Outsiders fic, so please be nice and don't flame me. I'd appreciate constructive criticism though, and you can drop hints here and there about what I could change or, if it's to boring or kind of fake at times I'll be happy to change it around to make everything sound better. And I'm sorry if this story sucks…I know that I suck at writing and I'm really sorry…but I enjoy writing and do it anyway. I hope I get somebody who likes this story…gosh I hope so…Anyways…please, Please, PLEASE R&R!!!!!

Change Of Heart

Chapter 1

"Rachel. Rachel!" 

I groaned as I was being shaken from my sleep. I looked up to see my mother standing beside my bed. 

"Come on Rachel. Get up or you'll be late for school." She stooped over to pick up some of my dirty laundry. 

"Honestly, Rachel, how do you find anything in this mess?" she asked, gathering my clothes in a pile and stuffed them in my clothes hamper. 

"I don't." I replied as I forced myself to get out of my bed. 

I sleepily made my way over to my dresser and pulled out my school uniform; a white blouse and black skirt. I hate school uniforms, they're all ugly, plain and boring. Our principal said that its good to have uniforms, 'cause then people won't make fun of you or single you out because of your clothes. I just find that all to be a bunch of bull. She just wants to make everyone at our school miserable by making us all look like clones. Mom grabbed my dirty clothes hamper and walked out of my room, down the stairs. 

"You'd better hurry up if you want to eat breakfast." She called from downstairs. 

I sighed and pulled on my uniform. It's not the best thing in the world, but it beats taking half an hour trying to figure out what to put on every morning. I grabbed a brush from the top of my dresser and raked it through my long brown hair, pulling it in a ponytail. I threw the brush back down, and quickly pulled on my socks. Then I grabbed my shoes and hurriedly shoved my feet into them and tied the laces. I grabbed my backpack from the floor and walked downstairs. I found my mother sitting at the kitchen/dining room table reading the newspaper and drinking her morning coffee. 

"That was fast." She said as I entered the kitchen. I let my backpack fall to the floor by the table. I opened the refrigerator door and peered inside. 

"We got anything to eat?" I asked as I moved the mustard to the side of the shelf, seeing what all we had. 

"There's toast." She replied, taking another sip of coffee, not glancing up from the paper. 

"Great." I said, shutting the refrigerator door. I grabbed the bread from the counter and shoved two pieces into the toaster. I took the peanut butter down from the cabinet and set it on the counter, alongside the plate I had gotten down. 

A loud honk from outside told me that my ride was here. 

"There's my bus." I said to my mother. I grabbed an apple from a bowl sitting on the table and stuffed it in my backpack. 

"What about your toast?" She asked me, as I rushed out the door. 

"You can have it!" I called back as I ran out the door towards the bus. 

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I took my seat next to Amanda, my best friend since I could remember. 

"Guess what." She said to me as the bus pulled away from my house. 

"What?" I said trying to act interested. Most of what Amanda talks about is guys. So I highly doubt this conversation is going to be anything but that. 

"Well," She said, drawing it out. 

"Let me guess. Some guy called you." I said 

"Not just any guy. Bobby Fisher! Do you know what this means?" 

I rolled my eyes. Amanda has had a crush on Bobby since the fourth grade, and has been desperately trying to get him to notice her ever since.

"It means he called you?" I said sarcastically. 

She rolled her eyes at me. "No, you idiot. It means he likes me." She smiled and leaned back into the bus seat, sighing happily. 

"So I take it the rest of the guys at our school all like you too? They call you don't they?" I smirked and ducked as she moved to take a swing at my head. 

"This is different." She said to me. " Yeah I know about half of the guys at school call me and stuff-" 

"About half?" I inquired. "It's more like over half." 

"Okay, yeah it's over half. But still, I mean out of all the guys in the school he hasn't called me once. This is the first time he's ever noticed me." Her tone quickly turned from serious to happy. "Anyway, so he called me last night, right, and we talked for like four hours…" I ignored her jabbering and leaned back into my seat thinking to myself. I usually tune her out anyway, with her always talking about boys its gets annoying real fast. 

I don't get it though. I'm as pretty as Amanda, right? At least that's what everyone else says. And so If that's true than how come she's always going out on a date with some guy every other night, and I'm stuck at home cleaning the house? I thought about this some more and then came to a reasonable conclusion. Maybe it's her attitude. Yeah, I bet its her attitude. Whenever I see her with guys she's always calm, cool and collected, I've never seen her blow it when she's around a guy. Me, on the other hand, Yeah I can hang out with guys in groups but when it comes to hanging out with a guy alone like on a date or something, I freak out and get all tongue tied and stuff. 

It's not hard at all to hang out with guys in group's, there's always someone to help get the conversation going and you don't have to rack your brain trying to figure out what to say. Oh, yeah I've been on dates with a couple of really close guy friends, there the kind of guys I can hang out with alone. But if some guy at school comes up to me and out of the blue asks me if I'll go out with him, my brain goes completely numb and I can't think of what to say. Then to top it all off I stutter and stumble all over my words, which makes me, sound really retarded, and eventually scare's the guy off. I guess now that I really think about it, dating is kind of stupid. It's a big circle of drama, everybody wanting a boyfriend or girlfriend just because their best friend has one. Than when they do have one there always together and always suspecting that the other person might be cheating on the other if they don't hang out regularly, and then all of that can lead to fights and break ups. Than people go and shut themselves out from the rest of the world for days and sometimes-even weeks. 

I was brought back reality when I felt something-hard jab into my ribs. It was Amanda, I almost forgot she was here. 

She was staring at the roof of the bus still talking about Bobby.

"…so anyway I think he does, what do you think?" She looked at me waiting for my reply. I had no idea what she was talking about, So I decided to play along. 

"Um…sure yeah, I think he does." 

She smiled. "Really?" You think so?" I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what else to do, at the same time praying that I'm not going to regret what I just said. She let out a high pitched squeal.

"Are you so serious? You think he likes me? This is so cool." She let out a happy sigh, mixed with my groan. "I'm so excited. I'm going to call him tonight…" 

I let out a frustrated sigh. I just knew I was going to regret this. I just knew it. I should of shut up. But nooooo I had to go and open my big mouth. I leaned back on my seat. I know now that I'll never hear the end of this. Thankfully the bus pulled up into the driveway of the school. I let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank you god." I mumbled quietly under my breath. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a school. But I was. As soon as the bus driver opened the door I basically sprinted out of the bus and hurried to my first class. Leaving Amanda to file out with the rest of the students still on the bus.

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School went by pretty normally. Besides Amanda, with her non-stop chatter about Bobby and the fact that I forgot my lunch money, school went fine. 

I rubbed my arms trying to warm myself. It was freezing outside and I forgot to bring a jacket. I had to walk home from school every single day and it is not fun, especially in cold weather. I rounded the street corner and came to my house. I walked up the driveway and stepped onto the porch. I groped for my house key in my backpack, and finally I found it. I unlocked the door and stepped into the house, shutting the door behind me. 

"Mom! I'm home!" I yelled from the doorway, setting my backpack down on the floor. When I didn't hear an answer I wandered into the kitchen to see if she was in there. "Mom?" She wasn't in the kitchen either, instead I found a note attached to the refrigerator; it read: 

Rachel,

Gone to the store. Be back soon. 

Love, Mom

P.S. Do your homework

I smiled as I read the note. Mom was always on me about keeping up with school, and getting good grades. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a Coke from one of the shelves. I then remembered I had a book report on '_The Grapes of Wrath' _due in two days and I haven't even started on it. So I figured now was a good time as any to start on it. I grabbed my Coke from the counter, got the book from my backpack and sauntered into the living room and laid down on the couch and started reading. 

I hadn't gotten farther than chapter two when the doorbell rang. 'Who could that be?' I thought. Then I figured it was mom, she probably had an armload of groceries and couldn't open the door. I smiled at the thought as I opened the door. My smile faded as I saw who was standing at the doorstep. It wasn't my mother. It was the police. The two uniformed police officers stood on the porch with grim expressions on their face. The Younger looking officer cleared his throat. 

"I'm Officer Kelly." He said pulling out his badge to show me. "Are you Rachel Pearson, daughter of Linda Pearson?" 

"Yes." 

"We'd like to talk to you. It's about your mother. May we come in?"

Thoughts were swimming in my head, they were coming so fast I could hardly think strait. _Is she all right? Is she in trouble? Is she hurt? Where is she? What happened? _

"Ma'am. Ms. Pearson?" I jumped a little at the sound of the officer's voice. I looked up at the men. 

I opened the door farther and stepped aside. "Uh…yeah, come on in." I said quietly, as the officers walked into the house. I shut the door behind them. My heart was pounding hard against my chest and was beating so loud I thought the officers could hear it.

I looked up at Officer Kelly. "Where's my mom?" I asked, my voice quivering slightly. "Is she okay?" 

The Officer gestured towards a chair set against the wall "I think you'll want to sit down-" 

"No!" I screamed. " I'm not going to sit down until you tell me where my mom is! Tell me! Where is she?" I was shaking badly and tears were streaming down my face as I tried to control myself. "Where is she?" I said more quietly, my voice cracking. "Tell me. Please?" 

I let the Officer guide me towards the chair, and sat down. Officer Kelly looked down at me. 

"Your mother," He began softly, clearing his throat, "Your mother was coming out of the parking lot and a car came around corner, the driver was drunk and was driving over the speed limit. Your mother pulled out of the parking lot and the two cars collided. The car crashed into the driver's side. There was nothing anyone could do. Your mom died instantly. I'm sorry." 

Tears flooded into my eyes, blurring my vision. "No." I said as tears spilled down my cheeks. I stood up and glared angrily at the officers. "Your lying!" I screamed. "YOU'RE LYING! SHE'S NOT DEAD! SHE'S NOT DEAD!"I couldn't believe what they were saying. She can't be dead. She was alive. She was breathing. She can't be dead. They got the wrong Linda Pearson, the wrong person. She can't be dead. This is a dream, I thought. I'm going to wake up any second and it's all going to be a bad dream. It's all a bad dream. My breathing became shallower. "She's not dead." I mumbled as I tried to focus on something. I was getting dizzy, the room started to spin. I looked at officers, one said something but I couldn't make it out. It was jumbled together. It didn't make sense. None of it did. Nothing made sense. I was falling, backwards. I hit the ground and my head hit the floor, hard. Then my world went black.

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Okay Chapter 1 is over and done with. Sorry it's so boring, but I PROMISE I'll make it better and more exciting in the next chapter! And yeah I know there's nobody from the gang yet but I'm getting there so be patient. 

I'm in the middle of writing chapter 2 right now, I don't know if I'll have it up this week but I'll try…I'm really swamped with schoolwork right now and I don't know when I'll find the time to write but I'll try to work on chapter 2 some more. And again, please R&R!!!


	2. Author's Note

Hey, thanks a bunch to everyone who reviewed! Okay chapter 2 will be up VERY shortly! (I'm going to work on finishing it tonight and then try to get it up within the week, school's back….**shudder**…Anyways…I'm running out of ideas so give me yours…who do you want Rachel to fall in love with?…I was leaning towards one of them but them I decided not to but then I got stuck…so um…post your replies and ideas. It would help me out a lot…thanks!!


	3. Chapter 2

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Title: Change of Heart 

Rating: PG, at some points it may get to be PG-13. For stuff like Mild Language and Sexual Comments, but nothing too extreme. 

Category: Romance/Drama

Summary: After her mothers death, Rachel Pearson moves to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live with her Aunt and Uncle and falls in love with a person who nobody expects, but does he love her back? I can NOT write summaries so you're just going to have to read it!! 

Disclaimer: No I don't own The Outsiders I only own Rachel and anybody else that you don't recognize from the book. 

Author Note: Hey y'all. Here's chapter 2! After the longest wait ever! lol! After a couple of reviews I got from people (Wen! Emily!) I decided to stop procrastinating (ugh, long word! Lol!) And get up off my lazy butt and write another chapter for this story. When I get reviews from people about this story I like go into shock for a couple of seconds and think to myself "OMIG! People actually like this stuff?" I don't know but I hate everything I write, maybe I'm just hard on myself…or maybe I really am bad at writing and you people are trying to make me feel better and all the people who reviewed are in the 'Fanfic Encouragement club' for all the "not so good authors" out there or maybe I'm just rambling on about nothing because it's like 12:00 at night!! I'm really confused now, so I have a question for all you authors out there: Are you all hard on yourselves and think that every little thing you write is a piece of shit? Answer that for me, k? 

Oh…one more thing…In like the last couple of weeks I have gotten reviews saying that I copied another authors work. Well, the whole thing was a BIG accident. I had no idea that the lines in my story were the same as the authors. 

While I was writing the 1st chapter for this I was also in the middle of reading the authors story. (The chapter was for an english assessment in school and I so I was reading her story and writing mine at the same time and it didn't help that it was around 10 at night!) My parents won't let me have Internet in my room so when they tell me to get offline I usually copy what ever I'm reading to Microsoft word and read it in my room. I was on fanfic reading ppl's stories and when I was in the middle of reading hers my parents told me to get offline so I took the story to my computer to finish reading. Well I guess I just wasn't thinking clearly and I just wrote down what was on my mind. And the bad part is that it was part of that author's story. And then without rereading my chapter I stupidly put it on fanfic thinking it would get some reviews and that maybe I would get some encouragement to actually continue a story without stopping on the forth chapter and just giving up. Well, I got some reviews, all right. Anyways…I apologized to the author. I am still upset by this and didn't mean for all this to happen but it did. And from now on I am going to reread what I write and not read other ppl's stories before I write, because when I do stuff like that gets stuck in my head. And I promise nothing like that will ever happen again. Oh, and I changed the part that sounded the same (it was in the last paragraph, last chapter)

Okay so on with the story…Oh wait I got to thank the ppl that reviewed!!

alyssaloo: thanks for thinking this is good, personally I hate it, but thanks, keep reviewing! 

Wen: Well I wrote now, so here it is! Hope you like. 

**Karlei Shaynner****: Thank you! **

Emily: I'm writing so you gotta get reading! Review!

D & fqwhgads: Read above. Thank you for telling me that though and sorry about the whole ordeal. And I will make sure something like that never happens again. 

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Okay here's chapter 2! Sorry if this is horrible! When I stay up late, late (like 1 late) my writing is kind of horrible…oh great there I go again…somebody PLEASE answer that question for me so that I know I'm not the only one out there that hates their own work!! 

Okay, okay, I'll shut up now…here's chapter 2!

Change of Heart: Chapter 2: Hospitals, Crappy Relatives, A new home.

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Sounds. 

Loud sounds. 

They were coming at me from all directions. 

Talking, lots of talking. 

And then there was this terrible beeping noise and it wouldn't go away. 

It just kept getting louder and louder and louder…

I opened my eyes and blinked as bright light flooded my vision, just about blinding me. I turned my head to the side, trying to get my eyes to focus. When my vision was normal again, I tilted my head trying to make out my surroundings. I was in a bed, and I was wearing some sort of gown. _Where the heck am I? _I asked myself. The walls were white with no sort of decoration or anything. I glanced around some more still not fully registering where I was. The cart next to my bed had a machine on it. I tried to sit up only to lie back down again 'cause of my head. It was hurting real bad. I tried to move my left arm into a different position, but couldn't. I glanced over at my arm. There was an IV attached. Then it hit me. _Oh gosh! I'm in a hospital! But why…_

Then it all came flooding back to me. _The doorbell…the police officers…mom… _I felt tears well up in my eyes. _This can't be happening, this is wrong, this is all wrong. She shouldn't have died. She didn't deserve to die. _I thought, trying hard to control my tears as they threatened to spill down my cheeks. _Damnit! Why couldn't it be somebody else's mother that died! _I thought bitterly as I let the tears flow freely down my face. _Why did it have to be mine? Why? Why her? Why my mother? _

"What did I do to deserve this?" I cried out, not able to control my emotions any longer. Anger was bottled up inside of me and I just had to let it out. I punched the mattress with my fist, "Damnit!" I screamed. My anger subsided and quickly turned into tears. Mom's gone, she's dead, and she's never coming back. Ever.

Five minutes later a nurse came in. 

"Your awake." She said coming over to the side of my bed, and checked the machines that were on the cart. "You passed out and hit your head pretty hard on the floor, you ended up with a minor concussion-" 

I cut her off. "How long was I out for?" I asked. 

"You were out since yesterday." She paused, and scribbled something on a clipboard. When she was done she looked at me. "I'm sorry about your mother dear. I really am." 

I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. How could she say that? She probably doesn't know the half of what it feels like to lose someone. How the hell does she know? She must've seen the expression on my face, because she looked at me weird. "Are you okay?" She asked. "I didn't mean to upset you." _Too late. _

I shrugged. "I'm fine," I said. "I just want to be left alone right now." I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. I just wanted to be left alone. 

The nurse looked me over once again. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it. She obviously got the hint that I didn't want to talk. She nodded and started to walk off, but quickly turned around and said, "Oh I forgot to tell you, there's some visitor's here for you. They claim to be your aunt and uncle." She paused, then said, "Do you want to see them?" 

"Yeah. Sure." 

She nodded. And with that she was gone. 

My aunt and uncle? I haven't seen them ever since dad died. As I waited for them to come, I wondered what they wanted, and also why they were here. They live in Oklahoma. Why did they come all the way out to New York?

A/N: Oops, forgot to tell you'll that she lives in New York. Sorry!…**runs and hides in corner** No…no…**covers face with hands**…I didn't mean to leave that out…I'm sorry okay! …now go back to reading!!

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A/N: Yeah, yeah it's me again. Okay that was just a quickie (the thingy above) so I just wanted to speed it up a little so here's the next section…

**__**

Two weeks Later…

I set my suitcase down on my bed. I looked around my new room, surveying everything. I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma now, the last place on earth I thought I would ever be. It's a tuff town, I don't 

hate it, it's okay…but I mean what do you do out here for fun? What do Ido? Go see a drive-in movie? Play poker? I think not.

Back in New York there was always something to do, nothing was ever boring, and you could always entertain yourself, whither it was a watching a fight, hanging out with friends, watching tv, you could always find something. But here…the town…it looked dead. Oh, sure I've seen a couple of people walking up and down the streets, but they we're mostly adults, I saw some kids once in awhile too but they didn't look like they were my age. I began to wonder if I was the only person in this town that was sixteen or at least close to it. (A/N: Forgot to tell you that to! Oops again!) But then I remembered they had a high school, so they must have kids my age. I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity and began to unpack.

I took out my clothes and hung them up in the closet. Next I started taking out my few belongings I had brought with me. My makeup, books, (I'm a bookworm, just like my dad, he loved books) my journal, my Elvis records, jewelry, and pictures. I sat down on my bed and took one out to look at. It was of my mother and me; we were on a tire swing in the park, she was smiling and I was laughing as she tried to stand on the swing. 

Mom was always trying find ways to make me laugh. It usually takes a lot to make me laugh, I'm usually not a very sociable person, and I'm quiet most of the time, I really have to know people before I start to open out to them. 

Mom was always the outgoing one, never shy, she always had this very bubbly, very bright personality. Mom used to joke that maybe Amanda and me got switched at birth. I used to roll my eyes at that, but I guess now that I really have a chance to look back on it Amanda really did act like mom, they both had that same bubbly personality. As for me, I took after dad, at least that's what mom said. I never got a chance to know my father, he died of cancer when I was three. I have memories of him even though people say I was really too young to remember anything. I know exactly what he looks like, and it's not from pictures. It's from memory.

Mom says I look exactly like him that it scares her, but I have her blue eyes. They're an ocean blue really, with a hint of yellow in them. When I look into the mirror and I see my eye's it reminds me of the sea, at dusk when the rays of the sun glint down onto the water…it's beautiful.

I guess my hair and my eyes are the best features I have. I'm not fat, at least I don't think so... I sure hope not. I have a pretty good figure, I guess. Mom used to say I was all curves, and that I was very pretty, I used to snort at this remark. If I was so good looking, how come I never got asked out on dates every other day? My hair, besides my eyes, is the best thing I like about me. It was long, down past my shoulders, just the way I like it. It was a brownish blonde color. That was weird though, none of my parents had the same colored hair as I do. Mom had a strawberry reddish color, and Dad was a brunette. I was always puzzled over that, of why my hair wasn't like my parents. But mom just told me not to worry, saying that I had different colored hair because I was special and that I shouldn't be upset over that. 

I set the picture down on the bed and sorted threw the rest of them. When I was finished I lay them down with the picture of mom and me. When I was unpacked and my suitcase was empty I reached under the inside bottom of the suitcase, revealing my secret hiding place. I hid two things in there, cigarette's, because I wasn't sure how my aunt and uncle would react to me smoking in their house. I didn't what a relapse of what happened before. 

It was when I first got addicted to smoking. One of Amanda's old ex-boyfriend's got me into it. Got me hooked for good. Well anyway I was at home smoking a pack of cigarettes when mom comes running into the kitchen at the time yelling about a raise or something. (I don't really remember now, I think I was still in shock at her coming home from work this early.) Well when she saw me with the cigarette hanging from my mouth I just knew I was dead. Needless to say I was grounded for six months, (Basically a lifetime, to me anyway but to her it was six months of peace and quiet.) During those months mom took away my cigarettes in an attempt to get me to stop smoking but it was useless. I was hooked and eventually started buying them off of people at school wasting my lunch money on pack of cigarettes. But eventually I started rationing them so that I wouldn't have to starve to death at school. I've gotten better at saving them; The most I ever smoke in a day anymore is around four, considering I used to smoke around two packs a day. 

Eventually Mom just gave up on trying to get me to break the addiction and said that she didn't care if I got black teeth and looked like a prune when I died. I didn't care very much, what I looked like when I died. Hell, I'd be dead. I wouldn't care if I looked like a prune. I don't think I'd care if I looked like Mickey Mouse or Elvis for that matter either. Black teeth on the other hand…I wasn't really itching to "dye" my teeth black. I thought about quitting for a moment but just shrugged it off. Who'd care if my teeth were black? I'd be dead, remember? 

The other thing I got hidden in my suitcase was my dad's old black-handled switchblade, four inches long, very tuff looking. Mom gave it to me a year ago, saying that dad had wanted me to have it when I was old enough and so mom gave it to me on my fifteenth birthday. I love that switchblade like it's the last thing on earth; I can never go anywhere without it. It's a really good bluff when you're cornered, to. But I'd never in a million years think of using it on somebody. I don't really wanna get hauled into the station for murder, if you know what I mean. I don't really know how to explain this but when I hold that switchblade in my hands I can feel my dad in me. Alive, Reckless, Angry, Vicious, Violence, Strong. I don't really know how to explain it really, but it's like I had this deep connection with my dad even though I never knew him, it's kind of scary but also kind of exciting. 

I slid the cigarette's under my pillow, making a mental not to myself to find a better place to stash them later. I put the switch in my back pocket and grabbed the pictures up off the bed. I looked around wondering where to put them. I gave up and decided to find a place for them later as I stuffed them in back in the suitcase. 

"Rachel! Dinner's ready!" Aunt Bernice called from the kitchen. I groaned softly. I didn't want to go eat with them, especially my uncle…I've only lived with them for two days and he's already starting to get on my nerves.

"Coming!" I yelled back, as I slowly trudged my way on into the kitchen. 

(A/N: Okay this was just a little fill in on where she lived what her mom was like and her whole back round and stuff…I know I could've written it to be included in the story, but I didn't….oh well…more for you to read…and the less for me to write. Oh and some of the stuff in here might be the same in the next chapters.) 

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So what do ya think??? Huh? Huh? Okay…pretty please review!! Please, please, please! It would mean a lot to me! 


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